A silent prayer of support; 10-minute worship service held for late First Baptist minister

Approximately 200 people attended a service outside First Baptist Church on Sunday to show support for the church following the loss of its minister, the Rev. Tim Davish, who died of an apparent heart attack at Mercy Health Center June 29. (Ruth Campbell/Tribune)

Parishioners at First Baptist Church had a few extra visitors on Sunday. Some 200 members of several different denominations joined them for a 10-minute prayer outside the house of worship to show support following the loss of their pastor, the Rev. Tim Davish.

The 53-year-old died suddenly the evening of June 29 after leading a Bible study class at the church. Sunday's silent prayer was organized by the Fort Scott Ministerial Alliance. He had been pastor at First Baptist for four years. The church averages 150 people at its services.

During the service, chimes from First United Methodist Church played the hymns "How Great Thou Art" and "In the Garden."

Parishioners from several different Fort Scott churches came out Sunday morning in support of First Baptist Church in the wake of the loss of its pastor late last month. In the foreground on the right is Mahlon Stucky, pastor of Cornerstone Bible Church.(Ruth Campbell/Tribune)

At the conclusion of the silent prayer, Cornerstone Bible minister Mahlon Stucky said, "First Baptist we love you."

Wiping tears from her cheeks, Amber Goodbody said she thought the prayer service was "great."

"Churches from the community came to support us, pray for us and reach out for us at a time when we really need it," she said.

Goodbody said she attended the Bible class where Davish was stricken and died 30-45 minutes later at Mercy Health Center. "We as a church were just shocked at how fast it happened. He was healthy," she said, adding she saw him walk out of the church with his wife and within the next half-hour, "he was gone."

William Watkins has only been attending First Baptist for two months. He did not attend the Bible study that night, but his wife did.

"It was like it was meant to be," he said.

Dr. Max Self and his wife go to Abundant Grace Church, but have some good friends at First Baptist and wanted to show support.

"It was well attended," Self said of the service. "... I recognized people from four or five different church families."

He went to the service out of a desire to pray for Davish's family and "to demonstrate the unity we all have as believers in Christ."

Kevin Moyers, pastor of Community Christian Church and president of the Fort Scott Ministerial Alliance, said a couple of alliance members talked about having a service for Davish. The idea was circulated and "a bunch of the churches began to get on board," Moyers said.

"I think everybody thought it was a really good thing to do," he said. Asked about the 10-minute timeframe, Moyers said the alliance just tried to find a time that would work with a number of different church schedules.

"That particular time worked for First Baptist because their service started at 10:30," Moyers said. He added other churches adjusted their schedule a little bit to let people attend.

"Tim was well liked there and was doing good work," Moyers said. "It will take a while for them to work through this time of grief and heartache. I had several from their church express thanksgiving that the other churches were doing this. It encouraged them a lot. I think it was good for the other churches to be involved. It's good to cross denominational lines in these times and show oneness in Christ and that we are concerned for each other, that we're not just all about ourselves. We're in this together."

A First Baptist spokeswoman said an interim pastor, Kerry Gage from Humboldt, will start delivering services in about two weeks and will stay on until a new pastor can be found.